On the occupational role of Swedish special educators: exploring changes in the light of school digitalization

Abstract in English

This is a thesis about the occupational role of Swedish special educators, with a particular interest in what itentails in digitalized schools. Previous research has shown that the occupational role of special educators iscomplex and erratic. To fulfill their role, special educators engage in several work activities, varying betweenand within countries and contexts. In Sweden, the role typically involves teaching, supervising colleagues,screening and documenting, and school developmental work, although the extent to which each of thesetasks is included varies. Furthermore, over the past 50+ years, Sweden, and thus the Swedish school system,has become one of the most technologically well-equipped countries and school systems in Europe – adevelopment that has been argued to challenge and change the way teaching and learning are, or could be,organized.Against this backdrop, the research presented in this thesis aims to examine if, and then how, schooldigitalization also challenges and changes the occupational role of special educators. Based on researcharticles, quantitative and qualitative questionnaire data, interviews, and by applying Cultural-HistoricalActivity Theory as analytical framework, the following research questions are addressed: (1) What aspects ofspecial educators’ work with digital technology are made visible or invisible in existing research, and whatimplications can this have? and (2) Is school digitalization experienced to have changed the work of Swedishspecial educators, and if so, how?Regarding RQ 1, findings show that while some aspects of special educators’ work are well-documented –particularly their instructional use of technology in teaching – others remain largely invisible. This partialvisibility risks perpetuating their absence in training initiatives, development projects, and policy work.Regarding RQ 2, findings show that the special educators experience their work as changed due to schooldigitalization, described as an expansion and redefinition of work activities. Expansion, in this case, does notrefer to a numerical increase in work tasks but rather to the expanded content and scope of existing tasks asdigital technologies become integrated in the pedagogical, physical, and psychosocial dimensions of theschool environment. These changes have implications for the occupational role and the knowledge requiredto work as a special educator in digitalized schools.

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